CBR TV @ WC12: Joe Hill on “Locke & Key,” “The Cape” & Digital Comics

Writer and novelist Joe Hill took time out of his WonderCon 2012 schedule to join CBR TV where he discussed breaking into comics before selling a novel, “Locke & Key,” thought balloons, laserdiscs, and much more in this wide-ranging interview.

Before breaking into comics, Hill revealed he was a failed novelist before a talent scout at Marvel read one of his short stories and gave him his first break. His comics work and short stories helped his novel career eventually move forward.

Next Hill touched on “The Cape,” the IDW series based on one of his short stories and adapted by Jason Ciaramella. There is another mini in the works called “The Cape: 1969″ which explores the cape’s supernatural origins and provides backstory for the first miniseries. In addition to working with Ciaramella, Hill touched on some of his co-writing and producer-like collaborations with other writers including his father, Stephen King, on IDW’s “Road Rage” title.

While “Locke & Key’s” larger, overarching story is all planned out, there will be more books once the main series of miniseries have ended including one-shots exploring more members of the Locke family and Key House’s 250-year history. Hill also has long term plans for “Locke & Key: Battleground,” a miniseries set during WWII. When they finish the series, Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez are doing a “capes” title for one of the Big 2 before moving on to a new, open-ended original project.

Finally the conversation turned to digital comics where Hill lamented the lack of an “artifact” with digital content, as well as engineering content to fit both digital and printed presentations.